ops cohesion night

first attempt playing 'bar tender' at last evening's ops cohesion night. brought back fond memories of my 'masak masak' toy kitchen set i had during the kindergarten days. rocks. :)

not me, i meant the event. haha. thanks for the pics ambrose sir!

photos courtesy of ambrose

two thumbs up

undoubtedly two of the 'awesomest' movies i've caught for a long long while.

i've never read more than a chapter of the dan brown novel, so its no surprise the film came as amusing to me. suspense, plot, location shoots, 'religion-based'... definitely my kind of flick. maybe because i'm catholic hence the emotions of being able to relate there a little. but c'mon, its nothing more different than national treasure. only an idiot gotta believe they're non-fictional. perhaps it was offensive at some scenes, but i guess credit still gotta go to ron howard for being able to recreate the locations so well where orginals were off bounds to him.

as for star trek, was never a trekkie till now! haha, am definitely gonna get the entire series of it beginning 1966...when i can afford. any kind soul can lend maybe? (:

a piece of mind

as i gather my thoughts and prepare my content to share on sunday's sesion topic being 'morality', one question has been occupying my entire mind. 'what exactly makes human life valuable?' hhmm...

is it determined by the quality of life we live? or how smart we are? or how popular we are? or how much we can contribute to society? or perhaps... is it because we as human beings have inherent value invested in us by our creator, god who has loved us with an everlasting love that can never be diminished...?

take law and religion out of the picture, and tell me why it would be morally wrong for me to kill you. what would your response be?

flyer & night safari

somehow i managed to got hold of this family card whereby all tourist attractions visited with it in singapore are free, if not 90% free (don't ask how, haha). since i had it for only a day, we decided to try out the flyer for the first time and thereafter visit the night safari last evening after work. some places i wouldn't pay for outta my own pocket as i never found them exactly that appealing. but nevertheless, we had our fair share of fun. (:

graduation day

the closing of a chapter, a new beginning of another.

three years in ngee ann brought about the most painful, but also the sweetest days of my life as far as i can remember. as its said, 'whatever that doesn't kills you only makes you stronger'. surely, has it been a home that i will never forget. not to mention, the people i owe for having made it one enjoyable hell of a time.

happy graduation y'all!

birthdays

for some of these guys, four years have flew by since we last met. thanks to facebook and birthdays, the opportunities to catch up were well seized over the past couple of weekends.

for a start,

• charmaine got accepted into murdoch
• sijay, guo hao, moses, and alson are finally commissioned
• jason got a place in safsa at last
• messy graduated with a accumulative gpa of 4.0 and on scholarship with ntu
• tian's enlisting into commando bmt in july
• shibin made it to airforce school as a fighter pilot trainee
• loke's working as a relief teacher - a step closer to achieving his dream of being a teacher

... and the list goes on.

indeed was it awesome to know that everyone's doing great out there and in the best of health. :)

but then again, after such pranks... i'm uncertain if the others look forward to meeting up any time soon. LOL.

photos courtesy of gaelan gu

at last ...

after much anticipation, the orange letter finally showed up in the mail box this week.

it read, 'You are hereby required under Section 10 of the Enlistment Act (Cap 93) to report for enlistment 08 OCT 2009 (THU) AT 10.30 AM to BASIC MILITARY TRAINING CENTRE SCHOOL 1'

...

sheesh, what a bittersweet moment. bitter cause i can foresee how restricted my life is gonna be for the next two years... and sweet because october's still pretty far away which leaves me some time to get into shape and catch up on what's to be missed in the years ahead.

time will fly, and in a matter of time i'll be in. haha, stay positive i must.

s'pore gp 2009

haha, anyone wana go for f1 this year? early bird tics still up for grab! :D

r1 meet up

haha, if you saw a convoy of these babes in town yesterday, that was us at last evening's subaru r1 owners' meet.

just pure, clean thrill to take the night away. especially now that our rides have turned limited ed since last month, we are all we've got left.

still, the expressions on the onlookers' faces... priceless (:

56th anniversary

hooray! we've turned 56th this year! at the same time, its always nice to know we're expanding and excelling a little more every year.

jiayou fmssrcy, and congratulations to one and all on yer enrolment and promotions. keep up the good work! (:

club twenties

who would have expected life to have gotten by this fast. as if the years just swoooshed past in a flash, i'm finally facing the two huge candles on the cake. looking back the past years, i cant deny just how blessed and provided for i've been. and as i celebrate these twenty years on earth today, i pray and thank god for each and everyone of you, both family and friends for being that blessing to me. (:

indeed did today come as a surprise in a number of ways. people whom i never expected to know or remember my birthday actually did drop me wishes, which really touched my weak heart and made me extremely grateful. on the other hand, friends whom i thought ought to remember, totally forgot about it, clearly telling me where i stand in their life. while i'm a little disappointed, i guess that's life lah eh. no hard feelings to anyone. not as if i remember everyone's birthday too. i guess it just feels emo to know you're aging quick. haha.

nonetheless, thanks to everyone who made this day so special with all your wishes and cakes! you guys are the best lah. ;)

tuts my barreh

haha, i cant get this outta my head. damn.

look whos home

courtesy of qing xiang

qing xiang and yuan hao returned this week! and despite their busy and packed schedule, its pleasing to have friends like them who never fail to make time for the creatures of least importance like me to catch up with. thus, with the limited amount of time we had together these few days, i’m glad that it was well spent. :)

its been a while since i’ve seen the two, and no doubt is it great to know that both are doing well and still very much alive kicking. due to ns, qing xiang’s been posted to brunei for a year, and yuan hao’s frequently sailing the region. as i sometimes witness the agony and sacrifices that such friends and relatives in ns put themselves through in fulfilling their duties, i cant help but be filled with much emotions and sometimes even sadness. for a start, none of us would want to be away from home, nor face the awful storms and currents out at sea or for that fact, wish to miss out on what those two years could have been spent on instead. when it comes to my turn to serve, i wonder if i’ll even have the physical/mental strength and capacity to do what these guys are currently doing out there.

i guess the truth is that i’ve been taking these peeps for granted. and maybe most of us are too. thanks to our lives of comfort and convenience, we’ve forgotten the price of which peace comes at, which who else are paying for, but these guys with their lives and sacrifices. well, someone has to get the job done one way or another, and until my time has come to join in the ranks of these brave men, my utmost admiration and respect goes out to all of them. dudes, thanks for keeping us safe, really. god bless you all! muack! haha. (:

world tour

i've decided to leave my job by june in order to set aside some time for the people and things i'd wana catch up with before i get enlisted for ns. hence as part of my 'retirement' plan, chanel and i got a couple of new toys this week to keep ourselves occupied while at home especially after we've stopped working. yeah you guessed it, a ps3 and the full set of guitar hero world tour, woohoo!

not surprising, its already becoming an addiction. haha. besides, we got gran turismo 5 too. only three words to describe its graphics. outta this world mann!

ok, time to get busy earning that gtr. of course, we'd love to have you join us! :D

price of beauty

its said that there's a feminine side to every guy. today, i think i let mine loose. i couldnt believe i spent over two hundred bucks on facial products just like that. lol, what was i thinking?!

at least, i hope they work lah. haha.

final sem results

final semester results were out today and im overjoyed to know i achieved the A grade, finally giving me a gpa of 4.0 that i had always wished for but only little hopes of attaining. hence all i can say, praise God! heehee.

adding this to my accumulative gpa will sure help a significant bit, but im still having my reservations if the figures will make the cut to get me into a local social science course i'm wanting. business will be a definite nono considering how it has dried me out for the past three years and i can't imagine spending another 3-4 years slogging through pages long reports, proposals and business plans for every project. sheesh.

thinking about the whole further education issue has taken its toll on me. for a start, i cant decide where i'd like to head. uni of cornell/ melbourne/ queensland seem to be the nicer options, having heard from friends about the fun they're having there and the rich mix of cultures they're fitting into. it sounds exciting. but then... i guess i have too much to lose here going abroad. on the other hand, staying here will just appear to be another cycle of poly repeating itself, dull -__-.

oh well, i'll just have to wait for that letter from smu before i determine anything. please come quick!

arts fest '09

photo courtesy of shuying

four months of planning and hard work with the others paid off well today as the rcy arts festival 2009 took centre stage at ri with a whole new concept in place. agreeing to take up appointment as vice chairperson (ops) proved to be a challenging role to fulfill, but was an un-regrettable opportunity seized that taught me so much about organising, decision making and managing personnel. not forgetting everyone in the committee who have self sacrificially stood by guiding, motivating, reminding me on outstanding tasks, covering my incompetencies and supporting me so ever-so faithfully; and of course the team of vis who made our dreams come true, thank you one and all! that's definitely one worthwhile experience you call priceless.

well done y'all! hip-hip-hooray! :D

and now for the best part to mark the event's conclusion, i get to delete all 200+ emails on arts fest! poof. gone. muahaha.

smu interview

dressed to kill, the ordeal began as i made my way to singapore management university today for my interview at the school of social science. for a start, it turned out that locating the right venue was exceptionally harder than i had imagined. it being the first time there, i was taken back in sheer surprise the moment i descended into its underground concourse. goshh, it was humongooous down in there! restaurants, pubs, cafes, shops, banks, gyms... whoot, nothing i would expect. if it wasn't for the new pair of shoes that was killing me, i could have spent the entire afternoon there exploring.

anyhow, i eventually made my way to the right faculty. as if i wasn't late enough, catching the lift up had to be a task as challenging. reason being, only one lift was operating and everytime it hit my floor it was sadine packed, depriving me of the chance to use it. there wasnt stairs access and hence, it took me awhile to return to the ground floor whereby only then could i squeeze my way into the lift that took me up... finally after a heart pounding 15min.

broken out in cold sweat, i scanned around hoping to find some familiar faces, but all i received were blur shy body languages. while most of us were dressed in formal attire, a couple were in their tees and jeans. /claps. in my mind, all i could think of was, 'thanks for the added boost of confidence! haha.'

in no time, i was face to face with the interviewers. having found out that one was from harvard and the other from illinois, both holding phd in psychology and conversing with me in that american and european slang, wasn't helpful at all! instead of listening attentively to them, my brain was literally in a race to seek for answers to the questions posed. i wouldnt be surprised if they were scrutinizing my mind with their psycho-tactics the whole time. haha. thank goodness the questions asked were at least pretty much practical and not things such as 'why isn't a square round or a ball square, and etc' which i heard some others had encountered.

the slow drive home was consoling. in conclusion, i guessed it was just average performance. perhaps impression, i may have a slight chance, but topics discussed... was a total disaster. considering the tough competition, i doubt my chances will be high. but well, no hard feelings. if i make it, it'll be an added bonus to my list of options. if not, there's still another two years to reattempt and the chance of studying at uni of melbourne that im favouring for now.

whatever the outcome, it was a great learning experience gained today. :)

please keep me in your prayers!

ltc four years on

i was blessed with the opportunity to return to the unit over the weekends to assist in a leadership training camp. blessed because spending such moments with both the juniors and teachers are always lovely to me, and unfortunately since my job now forbids me to, such chances to be able to return are therefore extremely rare. nevertheless when i do return, im always amazed by how much everyone is growing, changing and maturing, with the guidance of the younger seniors and vis whom have left me a peace of mind to leave without any regrets. and i know fairfield has been in good hands. :)

the sacrifice of that 'weekend-beauty-to-die-for' sleep was definitely worth every bit, as i slogged myself out of bed at five in the morning to tag along for the hike up bukit timah with the rest of the group. apart from the annoying mosquitoes and growling in my tummy, it was a great time of physical and mental training shared with everyone present in mother nature's midst. at least for a personal learning point ... my stamina has fallen freakishly below-low and its time i had better take some damage control before i get myself killed in ns! haha. ok, the best solution is to quit my current job soon in order to find some time to hit the track and gym again. however, re-adapting to the zero pay days will prove to be most difficult considering the way i'm splurging now. sheesh.

well, have a good week of school holidays y'all!

studio shoot

just some of the pics we managed to get from yesterday's photoshoot. huge thanks to boren and chanel for volunteering to be my models! if you both get famous one day, make sure you don't forget me ok. haha. but seriously, you both were surprisingly natural and good at it! made my work so much simpler and more enjoyable. so once again, thank you!

great, i found a cheaper alternative to paying for passport sized photos. :D